The Spare: Prince Osten's Selection

Chapter 13

My heart stopped beating.

Osten's lips were soft and gentle as they slowly pressed against mine. His kiss was innocent and sweet, not something I would have expected from the infamous playboy prince from the tabloids.

I felt butterflies in my stomach as Osten's hands gently found their way into my blonde locks and swore I was about to melt in his arms. Something about being with him in this moment felt so right. I felt content and peaceful, a feeling that I rarely felt with always worrying about my family and my future. I never lived in the present moment., but here with Osten, with his lips so tenderly pressing against mine over and over, there was nothing else except for him and me.

After what felt like an eternity, Osten broke the kiss and stared down at me, his hands still in my hair.

"I was hoping you would come," he whispered, lowering his forehead to mine. "I wasn't sure if you would, but I am so glad you did."

"Osten," I whispered, testing his name. "The books, I can't believe it. You did that for me. I can't tell you how much that means to me. I..."

Osten cut me off by another slow kiss on my lips.

"I couldn't resurrect Charlotte Brontë from the dead, Collins," he said, a smirk playing at his lips, as his hand came to caress my cheek. "So, I figured it was the next best thing. But, that is beside the point. I would have done anything."

"What do you mean?" I asked, staring up into his deep blue eyes, the butterflies still dancing in my stomach.

"I already told you. I wanted to show you how I feel about you, how I have felt about you from the day I met you. I have never, ever had a girl who has interested me so much. Girls used to be just another way to have fun, and I thought the Selection would be the same. But, then I met you, and it changed everything," he said, taking a breath as he continued.

"I tried to be flirty and joke around with you, and believe me, seeing you get all annoyed and flustered is the most hilarious and adorable thing I have ever seen, but I was always chasing you, always trying to find you. I wanted you to come to me, and tonight you did. All I ask is to know if there is a chance you feel what I am feeling. I know I don't know you that well, but I have never felt this kind of immediate connection with another person in my life."

I looked up at him with wide eyes as I took in everything he said. The normally cocky and self-assured prince was showing me great vulnerability and confessing deep-held feelings. Not just any feelings, but feelings he had for me.

I wrapped my hands over his which still were caressing my cheeks.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. I am supposed to just be here for my family, for our future. I never was supposed to feel anything for you, but I would be lying to you if I said I didn't feel it too," I whispered, telling him as much as I was telling myself. "No one has ever gotten it. The escapism in books, the desire for something greater, and you are the last person I would have expected to find it in, but the more I get to know you, the more you surprise me, and the more I feel connected to you, and that absolutely terrifies me."

"You have surprised me too, Collins," he whispered as he pulled me closer to him. "But sometimes, the most terrifying things in life are the things that take us on the most thrilling adventures."

Then, his lips found mine again, but this time, they were more persistent and aggressive. His tongue slipped inside my mouth as his hand moved to my waist. I felt my hands instinctively move into his thick red locks. A groan escaped his lips as the kiss deepens.

As Osten broke the kiss, I looked into his blue eyes again and saw nothing but intensity and longing.

"I could kiss you like that all night, Collins" he said, pressing his forehead to mine.

"I would be lying if I said I wouldn't like that," I said, smiling up at him. "But Osten, this is still so new. This isn't like me at all. This is all so fast and impetuous and quick. There are all these other girls here. I mean for goodness sake, you are having a Selection, and..."

"Collins, slow down. You are getting all panicky," he said laughing. "You need to let life come to you."

"But Osten, my family. You're a prince. I have so many things I want to do, so many things I need to prove to people. I have plans, and none of them ever included having feelings for someone, much less a prince," I rambled on before Osten put his finger to my lips.

"You talk too much, Collins. Though, it is one of the many things I like about you." he laughed before his expression turned more serious. "Time standing here kissing you like this isn't me asking you to give all that up. I would never want that. I love that you have dreams and ambition. You inspire me to want to have more of my own. But, what I am asking is just to have the chance to be someone you might consider letting in and taking a chance on. I know my family isn't exactly a normal family..."

"No, you just happen to live in a giant palace with guards and servants," I quipped. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Gosh Collins, the one time I try to be serious with you, you're the one who starts making jokes," he said as his lips turned up into a smile. "But yes, we do come with a bit of pomp and circumstance. Forget all that though. Forget the other girls. Forget the Selection. We're just Zara and Osten, two people trying to see what a connection between them could be."

I took in a breath. I had always been so sure of my life, so sure of my course. I was a dutiful daughter and a protective and sacrificing older sister. The Selection was a means to an end, not anything that was ever supposed to be an end within itself. This was never something that I ever wanted or expected I would want.

But, as I looked into Osten's eyes, eyes that usually sparkled with mischief and teasing, I saw something deeper. When I was with him, I somehow felt more myself than I ever had before. I felt so alive and free to play and explore what the world could be. It seemed absolutely crazy that someone I had known for such a short amount of time could have this effect on me, but he had. Something had shifted for me since Osten came into my life, and I had never been more terrified or thrilled in my life.

"Just Zara and Osten," I said, liking the way my name sounded with his. "I would like to find out what that might look like."

He lowered his head to mine again and stopped when his lips were just mere inches from mine.

"Just us, Collins," he whispered before his mouth closed over mine again.